meiosis
Meanings
Plural: meioses
Noun
- (genetics) cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms; the nucleus divides into four nuclei each containing half the chromosome number (leading to gametes in animals and spores in plants)
- understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)
- A figure of speech whereby something is made to seem smaller or less important than it actually is.
- Cell division of a diploid cell into four haploid cells, which develop to produce gametes.
Origin / Etymology
From Ancient Greek μείωσις (meíōsis, “a lessening”), from μειόω (meióō, “I lessen”), from μείων (meíōn, “less”). The biological sense was coined by British biologists John Bretland Farmer and by John Edmund Sharrock Moore in 1905 as maiosis in a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science, with the spelling corrected on etymological grounds later that year. Doublet of miosis.
Synonyms
litotes, miosis, reduction division, understatement
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 9
meiosis is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordmeiosis is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
meiosis is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary